In and Out of Time
by Seta Suzume
Summary: Viki sneezes Sasarai along with her as she travels haphazardly through time.


In and Out of Time

In and Out of Time

May 19, 2008

A Suikoden fanfic, by Suzume

Sasarai looked down at his desk calendar. He realized he had neglected to flip the last few pages over, leaving him squarely on the fifth of the month. He casually remedied the situation and glanced back up, finding a familiar face staring at him, her countenance displaying the very dictionary definition of confusion.

"Oh, hello, Luc," she chirped, comprehension spreading over her features.

"Viki?" Sasarai gaped. Realizing his mouth was hanging open, he closed it very deliberately and swallowed, regaining his scattered composure. "I am Sasarai, not Luc," he gently corrected her.

"Yes, Sasarai," she said, "That's right. I remember you. This must be Harmonia then. Umm, could you tell the year?"

The bishop regarded her curiously but played along, "Well, it's the same year I last saw you in, Viki- 475. What year have you come from?"

"Actually, it was the year 35 and my Auntie Ocha was really surprised to see me. And there was another you there, but it wasn't Luc. Or at least I don't think it was. He sat in a big wooden chair and laughed at me. It wasn't a mean laugh though."

"Could that have been Father?" Sasarai wondered, more than a little bemused. He had been unaware that Viki's leaps through time were that drastic or that she moved backward as well as forward. "Did you go there on purpose, or was it by accident?" he inquired, assuming that his factor might divine her reason for traveling through time to Harmonia's distant past.

"Well, I didn't mean to go there specifically or to that particular time, but I did want to go somewhere," Viki shrugged. She wrinkled her nose and then scratched the slight itch with the ornament on top of her staff.

The bishop rose form his desk and approached his unexpected visitor. "I'm beginning to get the impression that you're lost, Miss Viki. I'd like you to know that my services, as well as those of the Temple library, are at your disposal to try and solve your problem. It must be quite troublesome to keep stepping across time and space so often without rest."

"It makes my memory all muddled up," Viki agreed.

"So, where and when is it that you've been meaning to go?" Sasarai asked pleasantly, gazing evenly into her shiny, vapid eyes. He imagined he could see distant cities and mysterious oceans, even the land of the Sindar, in her eyes.

Viki opened her mouth to respond, but paused awkwardly, sniffing at seemingly nothing. Her eyes closed, cutting off his visions of past glories, and he suddenly realized what was about to occur. Yelping in a particularly undignified manner, Sasarai jumped backward in a last ditch effort to escape the effects of the teleporting girl's unpredictable magic. She sneezed. It was too late.

"Oooh, sorry," Viki apologized to her unwilling travel companion.

She sniffed again, and was about to wipe her runny nose on her sleeve when Sasarai produced a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her. He felt quite the disillusioned gentleman. Viki blew her nose noisily and seemed about to hand the handkerchief back, but he stopped her calmly. "Please feel free to keep it. I have a feeling you'll be needing it more than me."

Viki folded the white cloth and tucked it into the sash around her waist. This gave Sasarai something of the impression of the rags carried by the workers who repainted the Temple buildings in the heat of the summer. "So, you were about to tell me where it was you planned on going before we suddenly ended up here..." He looked around in a bit of an unbelieving daze at the wide empty field that surrounded them. It looked like some nameless stretch of the Grasslands, but when, he had no way of knowing. "...Wherever here is."

"I think I'm coming down with a cold," Viki declared, completely oblivious to his question.

Sasarai cringed at the thought. Here he was, lost with her in time and space, with no idea when- if ever- he'd return to his starting point, and Viki's oncoming cold promised even more non-stop arrivals and departures than usual with her. No wonder her mind seemed a bit addled. He'd be frazzled too if this was his life.

"Wyatt, look," whispered a harsh, rough voice, the words carried lightly on the wind, "A lone Harmonian. Looks to be a bishop as well, but no one I recognize. What do you make of it?"

"I don't know, it might be a trick. ...Of course, we can't afford to take any chances. And that girl could be one of the specialized war mages."

"Then I suppose we'd better..." The first voice trailed off into an unintelligible whisper.

"Hey, who's there?" Viki asked blankly, scanning the seemingly empty fields.

Sasarai tensed in anticipation.

The Firebringer were upon them before he could blink. Sasarai found himself staring down a long cocked crossbow. "Show us your hands!" the Alma Kinan warrior clutching the weapon commanded. Sasarai was quick to comply. "G-Geddoe," he gasped nervously, "This is a complete mistake! I know you don't know who I am, but I'm asking you to trust me!"

"You'd be hard pressed to convince me to trust you, Harmonian!" Geddoe growled in response. The wounds of his encounter with Harmonia were still fresh, both emotionally and physically.

"Viki? Is that you?" Wyatt queried, his squinted eyes conveying some of his confusion. "I thought you were back with Ari and Sana. ...And you look sort of younger..."

"What?" Viki asked, clutching her staff tightly with concern. She was only slightly worried, but for Viki, slightly was a great deal more than normal.

"I understand your interest in flaying them alive on the spot," Wyatt conferred with Geddoe, "But younger or not, this is definitely the Viki we know, and that leaves me a little anxious. I don't want to do anything in haste that I might regret later. I think we should bring them to see Ari and let him sort this out."

Geddoe grunted in annoyance and glared at Sasarai with his one good eye. Sasarai, unable to keep his composure, flinched noticeably. When he got back to his own time, he would have to remember not to take this too personally. "Fine. But we'll have to blindfold them."

"If you will, Nayua," Wyatt gestured for the leader of the squad of female fighters to take care of the their prisoners. Sasarai squirmed uncomfortably as the strong woman tied a piece of heavy green cloth over his eyes.

"C'mon, move!" Geddoe barked, jabbing the bishop in the back to get him moving. Sasarai stumbled along unhappily, tripping over several rocks and bumping into a girl, who pushed him hard in response.

"This is kind of fun," Viki murmured cheerfully, using her staff as a walking stick to traverse the unseen, and rather lumpy, ground.

"Oh, hurry up and sneeze again," Sasarai thought. "How could it be that with this many wild grasses and weeds there's nothing that irritates her nose enough to make her sneeze?"

The walk was frustratingly long and the well-disciplined Firebringer spoke infrequently and kept up a brisk pace. Sasarai's feet began to hurt, but he knew better than to complain. "Here," said Nayua and the blindfold was suddenly ripped from his face.

Sasarai rubbed his eyes and took in the scene. Ari, the Flame Champion, sat in a chair carved in a style similar to those used by high-ranking bishops, probably for ironic effect. Above was a red and yellow canopy that hung from the branches of numerous nearby trees. The woman Sasarai presumed was the lovely, much younger Sana sat beside him, holding a small child dressed in Karayan garb. Ari's bright, dark eyes glittered in the firelight and glowed with the reflection of the setting sun. A rather enigmatic smile marked his handsome face.

"We found some rather unexpected wanderers," Wyatt explained to his commander.

"On your knees, Harmonian," Geddoe ordered, giving Sasarai a shove that knocked him off balance. He knelt reluctantly, but did not avert his eyes. The whole of the mismatched assembly was staring at him, including a woman wearing a large feathered headdress and carrying what seemed to him like a medicine man's staff...a woman with familiarly empty eyes.

"Viki?" she queried incredulously, "It's me!"

Ari looked back and forth from one Viki to the other, noting their many similarities as Sasarai did the same.

"You look familiar," the younger Viki said. She pulled out the handkerchief Sasarai had given her and wiped her nose.

"I don't think this is quite right," the older, tribal-looking Viki considered the situation thoughtfully, "Should we really be in the same place at once?"

"Viki, you mean this girl is more than a look alike?" Sana asked.

"Yes, that's-"

Sasarai heard no more, as the answer was drowned out in the runic echoes of a magic-causing sneeze.

"Ah, and just as it was getting interesting too," Viki complained.

"May I help you two?" asked a sultry voice. "Tee hee," the woman giggled, confirming Sasarai's suspicions. He looked up from his kneeling position to see the underside of Jeane's enormous breasts. Now there was a familiar...body part.

"Hi Jeane," Viki smiled, "Are you the same Jeane who took a bath with me on the _Dauntless_? Or are you the Jeane who gave me a flowing rune at Budehuc? ...Or are all of you the same Jeane?"

Sasarai stood up and brushed himself off. He had thought they had encountered someone whose expertise regarding runes could potentially prove useful, but this was turning out just as weird as everything else he had experienced since Viki had shown up in front of his desk that morning.

"Tee hee," Jeane tittered again, "Who can tell? Life's full of mysteries."

Sasarai looked out of the one of the shop's large windows at the area, hoping to discover something about the location by what he saw. A fleet of beautiful golden yellow boats bobbed gently on the cerulean sea. The orange and yellow insignia on their sails was quite unfamiliar to him. He turned back to Viki and Jeane and their strange discussion, waiting to see if it would yield any more substantial results.

"Is there anyone I know here in Marlintine?" Viki asked.

"Well, Caesar Silverberg has been here three times now with his wife, a beaver, and some heroic type hoping to recruit me. He's from your continent, right? Perhaps he can provide some assistance."

"Caesar is married?" Sasarai echoed, more surprised to hear that then of his presence in the western trading empire. He knew little more of Marlintine than the most vague statistical data.

"He just celebrated his fifth wedding anniversary last week," Jeane noted. "The beaver bought him a shield rune as a present." She looked toward the window. "You're a nice, able fellow, right? Can you open that window for me and let in the refreshing sea breeze? I think Admiral Alewa's fleet is about to set sail to retake Gloris Peninsula anytime now."

Sasarai strained to complete the simple request, a bit embarrassed over his weak arms. The salty air blew through briskly just as Jeane had expected. It lifted her billowing sleeves, filling them with air. Despite her covered arms, she was still showing plenty of skin in other places.

"Is Caesar the sleepy redhead?" Viki wondered, pondering the identity of one of the many people she had met but could not quite remember.

"You know," Sasarai prompted here, "Apple's student? You've met her several times, haven't you?"

But the reminder proved a waste of time in the end, as Viki sneezed again, sending the time traveling duo smack onto an Arradian patrol ship.

"Hey cutie, have you reconsidered my proposal?" Gavaya cheered, smacking his lips in a sloppy preparation for a kiss.

"You already have a wife!" a curvaceous woman in the garb of a royal guard, smacked the back of his head. "Me! Curb that wandering eye of yours!"

"But honey," the the apparently no longer perpetual bachelor complained.

The whole scene was meaningless to Sasarai, but it sped by smoothly as Viki's next sneeze sent them reeling across the fabric of time before the Arradians were able to question the Harmonian presence aboard their ship.

Sasarai consider how much trouble his uniform had added to this ridiculous journey. The next time he went out like this, he was going incognito. His head was spinning from this constant magical travel. "Where now?" he mumbled groggily.

"Who are you?" gasped a small, nervous voice.

Sasarai and Viki both looked down to meet the eyes of a little boy in a long white robe that covered most of his fingers and dragged along the ground. Sasarai's jaw dropped open as he realized that he was eyeing himself. He had the same question as the Viki of the First Fire Bringer War had voiced ringing in his mind. "Is this really okay?"

"Umm, don't mind us, little brother," he blustered. "Viki, can you make yourself sneeze? Or, err, actually teleport on purpose?"

"Well, yeah, but where do you want to go?"

"Try the chief priest's quarter's!" he suggested, urging her to hurry before he had to hold a conversation with himself.

"Go!" Viki called, raising her wand. They were enveloped by an orangish yellow light only reappear in a room Sasarai had only entered a few times in his life- his father's dim workroom. The last glimmers of the spell's light illuminated the face of the quietly waiting chief priest. The warm shine reflected off the glass bottles of mysterious liquids and materials that lines the shelves of the room.

"What this?" Hikusaak asked curiously.

"Why do you keep it so dark in here?" Viki wondered, blinking to adjust her eyes to the near blackness of the workroom.

"I like the dark and the silence," he smiled a little. "...This isn't the first time I've met time travelers. ...Not the second time, either," he laughed, a small dry sound, good-humored, but not often uttered (at least not where anyone could hear him).

"Fa-err, Your Holiness," Sasarai corrected himself, thinking that was another bit of explaining he hoped to avoid, "We're having some trouble reaching our destination and I was hoping that you might be able to use your great powers to set us straight."

"Have we met?" Viki broke in before the chief priest could respond.

"I...don't know," Hikusaak admitted. He couldn't remember all the people he had met over the years forever. In his dreaming days, even the more familiar ones like Sassha and Alfred grew a little fuzzy in his memory. " I think I will be able to assist you," he agreed pleasantly, not willing to delegate despite his knowledge of more skilled gate and time magicians. There was no reason to lessen himself by sending them to another.

"Oh, that's a relief," Sasarai sighed, "Thank you, Your Holiness." Suddenly recalling Viki's initial request, he turned to the time traveling girl, "Do you want to try and go home now? Perhaps your travels can finally end."

"No," Viki said seriously, "Even though it's nice of you to offer, I don't think it'll work if I don't manage it myself."

"Suit yourself," the chief priest shrugged.

"Well, there is _somewhere_ I'd like to go..." Viki perked up, whispering into Hikusaak's ear.

"I see, I see," he answered. It seemed he understood completely. "Now if you'll please step a bit apart so you can be off to your separate destinations," he instructed.

Viki and Sasarai each took a step to the side. Sasarai looked at his unexpected comrade curiously, wondering where it was she had asked to go.

"Crystal Valley, 475, right?" Hikusaak prompted him, raising his hand to weave a spell in the air."

Sasarai nodded, then realized he had not yet mentioned his destination. "How did you know?" he called to his father as he vanished into the air.

"The chief priest know, Sasarai," he smiled at the empty space where the strange girl and his son had just stood.

Sasarai blinked, his eyes readjusting from the dark of the hidden chambers to the brightness of his sun-filled office. "I'm here! I'm back!" he shouted to no one in particular.

Fear suddenly welled up in his heart. This was the right room, but how was he to know this was the correct day? He rushed to his desk to examine the small calendar that lay there. It showed the date he had just uncovered when moving the pages to the correct day.

"Your Excellency?" Dios asked, poking his head into the office, "I heard you say you're back. Where exactly have you been?"

"First tell me the date."

"The eighth, of course," Dios answered, not understanding this odd request, but still complying.

"And the year?" Sasarai pushed further.

"475, sir."

"Ah, goodness, thank you. ...Dios, the strangest thing happened to me," he began his explanation. Merely grateful to be back, he chose not to pursue the two questions remaining in his mind: how had Hikusaak known and where had Viki gone?

-Author's remark: Where did Viki go? Well, to the next Suikoden game, of course!


End file.
